The school conducted the first session of the programme on Friday, by taking students to visit the PMPML office at Swargate, accompanied by director of PMPML, Siddharth Shirole.

Students of Sanskriti School got to an opportunity to see the professional life of MP Anil Shirole on Friday.(RAVINDRA JOSHI/HT PHOTO)

Class 10 student Namya Singh had always been interested to know how the world of politics works. Singh was among 22 students from three campuses of Sanskriti school, who got to an opportunity to closely see the life of a working politician, member of Parliament, Anil Shirole, through the school’s new experiential learning programme.

The school conducted the first session of the programme on Friday, by taking students to visit thePMPML office at Swargate, accompanied bydirector of PMPML, Siddharth Shirole.

“We are in those years where we have to decide, explore things and opportunities. I was always interested in knowing how things work in the life of a politician; how they face the world, what preparations they do before entering politics. I learnt that while there are no courses for becoming a politician like other professions, one can prepare themselves by keeping abreast of latest development in society and taking up courses like political science,” said Singh.

For the students, a day in a politician’s life, expanded from the visit to the PMPML to exposure to the intelligent traffic monitoring system (ITMS) and an eventual interaction with city MP Anil Shirole, at his office on Ghole road.

Today, most parents want their children to become engineers, doctors, architects which are good professions, but no one thinks in the direction of politics. It is important that people be interested and involved in politics, because every important decision which affects a person’s daily life is taken by a politician. Hence we need intelligent, studied and good people in politics and governance. The cream of the society should enter politics,” said MP Shirole

“Until now whatever we knew about a politician was only from media or movies, who often show them to be very corrupt and lazy and even unintelligent, but we found it was quite the opposite. I always thought they are pompous, but actually they are very hardworking and extremely sharp,” added Class 10 student Diya Jain.

This programme is designed for students from Class 9 to Class 12 to help them understand the nitty-gritty of every profession, through experience and not just books. Several more sessions will be conducted by the Sanskriti schools with professionals, entrepreneurs and decision markers.

“In the current scenario, hands-on experience and internship opportunities are limited to senior college students. However in today’s competitive world, a student is mandated to make their career choice at an early stage itself, to enable them to prepare for that profession. How does a student take those decisions today? By accessing second-hand information and often the expectations are unrealistic, which disappoints students at a later stage. Creating an opportunity for a student to spend an entire day, learning the nature of the job, the challenges, the skills and so on, required of a profession, we are empowering children to make informed choices,” said Devyani Mungali, director of Sanskriti.